I was wondering if anyone has a pattern for the Feed Sack (i.e. dog food/cat food/lamb food) bags. A customer of a friend has been talking about making them out of the poly bag material and using them for grocery shopping.

I just dumpster dived (into our own dumster) and retrieved our latest empty dog food bag. Oopsie.

I found these by useing "recycled dog food bag tote" in my search engine:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5071009_recy...food-bags.html

http://www.allfreecrafts.com/recycli...bag-tote.shtml

there are many more

That is a good idea, I hate thowing them away. We have used them as sand bags in the winter(hand sewing them shut-not fun)Have you looked on Craftster.org? there are some interesting patterns there.

I just whack off a section that looks good based on the graphics on the bag. I turn it inside out and sew the bottom closed. I sew a piece of twill tape in the seam to reinforce it. I fold the top edge down and use another piece of twill tape to face the raw edge. Then sew on the poly webbing for handles. Sometimes I sew triangles at the bottom corners to make a flat bottom. I have also used a piece of duct tape over the bottom seam to reinforce it some more. I have never lined mine, but have seen it done. Oh, you can actually press the bag a bit if you are very careful. Cool iron and a press cloth. I'll see if I have a picture around here

I can see these used as heavy duty totes for around the yard/farm usage! Thanks for the suggestion.

A local sewing shop here had a class using plastic shopping bags ironed to fabric and made into a jacket. Of course they used higher end store bags, but it might be fun to make something for outdoor work with the bags you have, get creative in the cutting and one might never know it came from a feed bag.

Well, I found out from this site that when you have ugly fabric with a repeat, you wack and stack...LOL

This is the one that I use. http://dillydollop.blogspot.com/2010...ocery-bag.html

I line mine and use webbing for the handles

That is such a cute idea!

The dollydollop blog is the best tutorial I have seen. The bag was easy, my next one will fly off the machine. My needle did dull quickly though. I have one variation, I use canvas belts for the handles, I find them at thrift stores and yard sales. It just looks a little different and might be kinder on your hands.